Banco Sabadell has signed on to the Qivalis consortium, a group of roughly a dozen European banks building a MiCA-compliant euro-pegged stablecoin. The move, announced this week, adds a second Spanish bank to the initiative — joining BBVA, which entered the consortium last month. Qivalis, established in Amsterdam in 2025, aims to launch the stablecoin in the second half of 2026.
Why Sabadell signed up
César González-Bueno, Sabadell's CEO, framed the decision as both practical and ideological. He said the project is meant to make transactions more efficient and secure, and called it a European project. The consortium already includes ING, UniCredit, KBC, Danske Bank, and BNP Paribas — a who's who of continental banking.
More Spanish banks circling
Spain's fifth-largest lender, Bankinter, is in talks with Qivalis and expects to update the market in early summer. Three non-listed Spanish banks — Abanca, Kutxabank, and Cecabank — are also reportedly considering joining. If all of them come in, Spain would be the most represented country in the consortium by number of institutions.
The euro stablecoin gap
Euro-pegged stablecoins currently account for less than 1% of global stablecoin volume — a stark mismatch with the euro's weight in trade and finance. France's finance minister, Roland Lescure, recently called that figure 'not satisfactory' and urged European banks to explore tokenized deposits and develop more euro stablecoins.
But the regulatory environment isn't helping. Blockchain for Europe, an industry group, argued this week that MiCA has made euro stablecoins less competitive than dollar ones — and suggested reforms to level the playing field.
What happens next
Qivalis is still in development. The consortium must finalize its technical and compliance framework under MiCA, then execute a launch later this year. Bankinter's decision in early summer will be the next visible milestone — and a signal of whether the euro stablecoin push is really gathering momentum or just a parade of press releases.
